Trace-holder.



PATBNTED SEPT. 15, 1903 ulo MODEL.

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nary harness.

UNITED STATES Ilatented eptemloer 1 5, 190%.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. BRYANT, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TRACE-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,882, dated September 15, 1903. Application filed May 19, 1902. Renewed February 21, 1903. Serial No. 144,525. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. BRYANT, a citizen of .the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trace-Holders; and

I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of the invention,

such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention has for its object to provide an improved trace-holder; and to this end it consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described,-

and defined in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure l is a plan view, with some parts broken away,showing aportion of a whiffletree and atrace or tug held together by one of my improved trace-holders. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 00 00 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on the line a 00 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to 'Fig. 1, but illustrating a slightly-modified construction; and Fig. 5 is a section on the line a 00 of Fig. 4.

The character a indicates the whiffletree and the character I) a trace or tug of an ordi- At its ends the whiflietree a is perfectly smooth and is slightly tapered, and the trace 2) is provided with one or more eyes or slits b, which adapt the trace to he slipped onto the end of the whiffletree a, as shown in adapted to embrace and yieldingly clamp.

the end portion of the whiffletree a. In the construction illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the spring clamping-fingers f are bent, the one upward and the other downward, to form alined trunnions f which are inserted into a perforation or seat a in the said whiffletree, as best shown in Fig. 2. By reference to said figure it will be noted that the said trunnions'f donot come together, but

terminate short of each other, so as to permit the so-called clamping-fingers f always to yieldingly press against and clamp the whiffletree, and thereby prevent rattling of the holder. This antirattling feature is important.

The construction illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 is the same as that above described, except that one of the spring-fingers f is provided with a long trunnion f which projects through the perforation or seat in the whiffletree and is passed through an eye f in the other spring-finger f In this construction the antirattling feature is also present, since the spring-fingers f are again left free for clamping engagement with the. whiffletree under the spring tension from the springprongs f.

In both of the forms of holder illustrated all bolts, nuts, rivets, and other separable de= vices for cooperation with the holder to hold the same in working position are dispensed with, and while the holder is securely held in working position it may be very quickly applied or removed. As is obvious, the device is of extremely small cost.

The manner of using the device is clearly illustrated inthe drawings, and it is evident that when the trace is passed through the loop f of the holder and forced onto the end of the whiffletree the strain on the tugs will keep the holder in the position shown in Fig.

dent that when the trace is given slack and bent, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the holder may be moved into its dotted-line position, and the trace may then be easily forced 0E from the end of the whiffletree.

This form of holder renders unnecessary the cutting or notching of the whiftletree at that reduced portion which is engaged by the trace, and thus gives to the trace its maximum strength for a given amount of material contained therein.

In view of the fact that the spring clamping-prongs f are overlapped or crossed it is evident that any strain tending to elongate the loop f will cause the said clamping-prongs f to more tightly clamp the end of the whiffietree, whereas if the said prongs were not crossed such strains would tend to throw them out of engagement with the whiffletree.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows: 1. A trace-holder provided with a loop or eye through which the trace may be passed and provided with overlapped or crossed spring 10 clamping-prongs engageable with the whifiletree and pivotally connected thereto, substantially as described.

2. A trace-holder formed from asingle piece of spring-wire bent to form a loopf through 15 which the trace may be passed and having its ends extended and overlapped or crossed to form spring clamping-prongs f adapted to 

